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Drive On: Businesses warm to hybrid cars

Perhaps this is finally the ultimate proof that hybrid cars have gone mainstream. Businesses have started buying them in bunches. Clear-eyed, bottom-line loving businesses. Not just families who become

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Perhaps this is finally the ultimate proof that hybrid cars have gone mainstream.

Businesses have started buying them in bunches. Clear-eyed, bottom-line loving businesses. Not just families who become hypnotized by the magic of hybrids, part of their quest to save timber or whales.

Ford says it is starting to see fleet orders for its Fusion and C-MAX hybrids from the likes of companies like Con-way, Esurance, Quest Diagnostics and AT&T.

We're already previously talked about how the taxi industry has embraced Toyota's Prius, especially its Prius V wagons, as a way to save tankloads of fuels on vehicles that spend lots of time normally idling or stuck in traffic.

Ford officials say fleet customers are being drawn by all the right reasons. Their accountants are sitting down and figuring out how much extra they'll pay for hybrid powerplants, how much they'll save on gas and calculating the difference.

"Ford's Fusion Hybrid and C-Max hybrid give them the tools they need to get the job done, including leading EPA-estimated fuel economy," says Jon Coleman, Ford commercial fleet sustainability and technology manager, in a statement. The two vehicles, a sedan and a crossover, both average 47 miles per gallon combined.

Ford says companies depending on where and how far employees drive, companies can cut operational costs by up to 45%. While the savings go straight to the bottom line, companies can also boast about how they are doing their part to save the planet.

Ford gives these examples:

--Con-way, the big interstate trucking company, bought more than 1,000 Fusion hybrids. It expects they will save more than 1 million gallons of gas annually while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 45%.

--Esurance chose 50 Fusion Hybrids for its national claims fleet, aiming for gas savings of 69,000 gallons of gas and costs of $255,000.